Spring 2020
MWF 9:30 - 10:20 am
Matthews Hall, Room 210
Updates
Instructor:
Name | Office | Phone | Office hours | |
Greg Francis | PSYCH 3186 | gfrancis@purdue.edu | 494-6934 | MWF 2:00 - 3:00 pm |
Text: There is no textbook. Material for exams will be taken from the lectures. If you want to use a textbook, you can use any cognition text from other (present and past) sections of this course, or you can purchase a textbook online. Class notes will be available on the web (see below). The notes are reduced in size so that six slides fit on a single page. You can either download individual lectures (below) or you can download the entire set of lectures notes in a single file (51 MB). There are also optional readings in the schedule below. These readings may help if you are unsure about something or want to explore a topic further.
Class attendance: Your presence for the lectures is mandatory, and will be checked each class period. Over the course of the semester, each student may miss up to 6 lectures without penalty. Additional absences will proportionally reduce your class attendance score. This score contributes to 5% of your final class grade. Athletes and other special cases need to contact Dr. Francis.
Class home page: The home page for this course is http://www.psych.purdue.edu/~gfrancis/Classes/PSY200/indexS20.html From this page you can download lecture notes, view the class schedule, view current grades, and connect to the various homework laboratory and writing assignments. Blackboard is also used for some aspects of the course, as discussed below.
Vodcast recordings of lectures: BoilerCast recordings of the lectures will be available as a vodcast in Blackboard. It sometimes takes a few days for the vodcast to be uploaded. The recordings are meant to be a (poor) substitute should you miss a lecture and to provide a way to go back and check on topics that you do not fully understand. The vodcast recording system does not always properly capture the lecture, and sometimes the audio is quite poor. Your best option is to attend the lecture itself and use the vodcast as a way to refresh selected topics.
Examinations: There will be four section exams and one final exam. The section exams will be in-class and the final exam will be given during the final exam period (do not plan to leave campus early, this course's final exam is sometimes scheduled for the last day of exam week). The first two exams are each worth 10% of your class grade. The last two exams and the final are each worth 15% of your class grade. The final will cover all topics of the course. Exams will be all multiple choice questions. Extensive study guides are available as links in the class schedule below. You might also find it useful to look at old exams from Spring 2019. However, the course always changes a bit from semester to semester, and your exams will be made of different (but similar) questions. Make-up exams will not be permitted unless you notify Dr. Francis at least 48 hours prior to the scheduled exam date. Missed exams will receive a grade of 0.
CogLab: CogLab is an Internet site that allows students to participate in classic experiments related to cognitive psychology. You will be given lab assignments throughout the semester. These labs are run through the Internet and can be carried out at any computer lab on campus or at a home computer. Your overall lab grade will make up 15% of your class grade. All the labs are on the Cognitive Psychology Online Laboratory (CogLab) web page at https://coglab.cengage.com. In the schedule below, individual labs are associated with different dates. You must complete each lab by 8:00 am on the date indicated to get credit (better to do it the night before). You will receive log-in instructions in class.
Writing assignments: Four times during the semester (the precise dates are listed in the schedule below), you must submit a short (3-5 pages) report related to CogLab assignments or other topics discussed in class. The details of each assignment are provided in the linked documents in the schedule, below. Each report must be typed, single space, and follow the format indicated in the linked document. The report should be free of grammar and spelling errors, and it must address all the topics indicated in the instructions. Each report will be scored on a 10 point scale. The average report score for each student across the semester will make up 15% of your class grade. Reports must by prepared in a word processing program (Microsoft Word or something similar) and be submitted through Blackboard by the start of class on the date indicated in the schedule, below. Late submissions receive a score of 0. Plagiarism (using someone else's writing as your own) will not be tolerated. Do not simply copy and paste material from any source. For short reports like this assignment, you should not be quoting text from any source, even with proper attribution. See the Purdue Online Writing Lab for details about plagiarism. If deemed serious enough, plagiarism will be reported to the Dean of Students.
Grading: Grading is on a straight scale, as described in Lecture 1. There is no rounding or curving of grades. There is no possibility of extra credit.
Teaching Assistants:
Name | Office | Office hours | |
Dani Larranaga | PSYCH B131 | dlarran@purdue.edu | Monday noon-1 pm and Tuesday/Thursday 9:00-10:00 am |
Maria Kon | PSYCH 3188 | mkon@purdue.edu | MWF 10:30 - 11:30 am |
Schedule:
The links to the optional readings provide some additional background or related information. You do not need to read this material, but if you are interested in the topic, it is a place to start further exploration.
Lecture PDF | Date | Topic | Assignment | Optional Readings |
01 | January 13 | Introduction | ||
02 | January 15 | Brain | Brain asymmetry | The Brain from Top to Bottom, Visual contralateral processing |
03 | January 17 | Brain scans | ||
-- | January 20 | Martin Luther King Jr Day (No class) | ||
04 | January 22 | Mind reading | Video of tongue display unit | |
05 | January 24 | Neurons and neurotransmitters | The Mind Project | |
06 | January 27 | Receptive fields | Blind Spot | Receptive field tutorial |
07 | January 29 | Neural networks | Writing report #1 (doc, pdf) | |
08 | January 31 | Neural learning | Implicit learning | Neural Networks |
SG1 | February 3 | Review for exam | ||
-- | February 5 | SECTION EXAM 1 | ||
09 | February 7 | Visual perception | Muller-Lyer illusion | The Joy of Visual Perception |
10 | February 10 | Dynamic vision | Apparent motion, Metacontrast masking | The Joy of Visual Perception - Motion Perception |
11 | February 12 | Attention | Simon effect | Wikipedia Page |
12 | February 14 | Attention | Attentional blink, Visual search | Visual Salience |
13 | February 17 | Sensory memory | Partial report | |
14 | February 19 | Two-store model | Brown-Peterson, Serial position | Wikipedia Page, Dewey (2007) |
15 | February 21 | Working memory | Sternberg search, Writing report #2 (doc, pdf) | Wikipedia Page |
16 | February 24 | Working memory | Memory span, Phonological similarity | |
SG2 | February 26 | Review for exam | ||
-- | February 28 | SECTION EXAM 2 | ||
17 | March 2 | Encoding specificity | Encoding specificity | |
18 | March 4 | Memory discrimination | False memories | |
19 | March 6 | Constructive memory | Loftus (2003) | |
20 | March 9 | Amnesia | Forgot it all along | Wikipedia entry on HM |
21 | March 11 | Improving memory 1 | Levels of processing | |
22 | March 13 | Improving memory 2 | Link word, Writing report #3 (doc, pdf) | |
-- | March 16-20 | Spring Break (No class) | ||
23 | March 23 | Mental representation | Prototypes | |
24 | March 25 | Mental imagery | Mental rotation | Wikipedia Page |
SG3 | March 27 | Review for exam | ||
-- | March 30 | SECTION EXAM 3 | ||
25 | April 1 | Language instinct | African American Vernacular English | |
26 | April 3 | Phrase trees | MiniLing | |
27 | April 6 | Words | Word superiority | Wikipedia on Proto Indo European Language |
28 | April 8 | Parsing | Lexical decision | |
29 | April 10 | Speech | Categorical Perception - Discrimination | Wikipedia Page on Consonants |
30 | April 13 | Language development | Age of Acquisition | |
31 | April 15 | Language and brain | Writing report #4 (doc, pdf) | The Brain from Top to Bottom: Language-Procesing Areas, Deciphering the Chatter of Monkeys |
32 | April 17 | Consciousness | The Brain from Top to Bottom: Consciousness, Searle and the Chinese Room Argument | |
SG4 | April 20 | Review for exam | ||
-- | April 22 | SECTION EXAM 4 | ||
33 | April 24 | Decision making | Monty Hall | |
34 | April 27 | Problem solving | Wason selection | |
35 | April 29 | Current topics | ||
SGF | May 1 | Review for final exam |